Shashi Tharoor's enthusiastic response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to become an ambassador for the National Democratic Alliance government’s new Swachh Bharat campaign proved to be the proverbial last straw that led the opposition Congress to remove the MP as a party spokesperson on Monday, officials said.
Not only did the former Union minister rush to accept Modi’s offer when it was made on October 2, he even described the invite as an honour.
Anger had been building against Tharoor in the Congress party for months, ever since he wrote a column in June suggest that it would be churlish if the party did not take note of Modi’s efforts to sound gracious and reinvent himself from a “hate figure into an avatar of modernity and progress”.
Acting swiftly on a complaint from its Kerala unit, Congress president Sonia Gandhi removed Tharoor as party spokesperson on Monday.
Complaints from Kerala
“Congress president Sonia Gandhi has accepted the recommendation of the All India Congress Committee disciplinary committee to remove Shashi Tharoor from the list of spokespersons of the AICC with immediate effect," said a press statement by party general secretary organisation Janardan Dwivedi. “The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee had submitted a complaint in this regard to the disciplinary committee.”
While the Congress president’s decision was predictably welcomed by the party, a chastened Tharoor put out a statement saying that he accepted the party’s decision but would have welcomed an opportunity to respond to the charges against him.
"While I have not yet seen the KPCC complaint referred to and while I would have welcomed an opportunity to respond to it and draw the attention of the AICC leadership to the full range of my statements and writings on contemporary political issues, I am now treating this matter as closed and have no further comment to make," he said.
Furious party leaders in Kerala sent a report to the Central leadership in which they pointed that Tharoor’s adulatory statements about Modi had hurt Congress workers who had worked hard in the Lok Sabha elections for his second successive victory from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in May's Lok Sabha elections.
Public humiliation
Although Sonia Gandhi is not known to take quick decisions, the alacrity with which she responded to the complaint from the Kerala unit was meant to be send out an unequivocal message to Tharoor and others that the party will not compromise on its opposition to the BJP in general and Modi in particular.
In fact, not only did the Congress act swiftly on the report, it also went out its way to publicise the fact that it had removed Tharoor from the panel of spokespersons. “The party could have quietly told Tharoor not to address the media,” a senior Congress leader told Scroll.in on condition of anonymity. In fact, he has not done so for nearly three months now. "But the party leadership obviously wanted it to be known that it had not taken kindly to Tharoor’s comments."
The overwhelming view in the party was that the decision on Tharoor was long overdue and should have come much earlier. “He was given a long rope,” remarked a Congress office-bearer. "Tharoor has made several such controversial statements in the past but has always been rewarded."
This Congress leader alleged that Tharoor was trying curry favour with the Modi government because he wanted to influence the investigations into his wife’s mysterious death in January. Tharoor has repeatedly denied this charge and describes himself as a “proud Congressman.”
Political outsider
A political outsider who joined the Congress in 2009 a couple of years after resigning his job as a career diplomat at United Nations, Tharoor has never been popular with his party colleagues. Many resented the fact that he was handpicked by the Congress leadership to contest the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat in 2009, without any grassroots support.
Congress leaders from Kerala explained that the earlier controversies about Tharoor’s wife’s mysterious death and the allegations that he had misused his political office to obtain shared in the Indian Premier League Kochi cricket franchise paled in comparison to his persistent remarks praising Modi. “This shows he does not understand the complexities of politics,” said a senior party leader. The Congress is nervous about the BJP’s efforts to make inroads in Kerala and it believes Tharoor’s comments will undermine its battle against the saffron party.
Tharoor, Congress leaders said, should understand the enormity of the situation as he faced a tough contest from BJP’s O. Rajagopal in the last Lok Sabha election. “Tharoor managed to scrape through but only after the Communists pitched in to ensure his victory,”said a Congress leader from Kerala.
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Not only did the former Union minister rush to accept Modi’s offer when it was made on October 2, he even described the invite as an honour.
Anger had been building against Tharoor in the Congress party for months, ever since he wrote a column in June suggest that it would be churlish if the party did not take note of Modi’s efforts to sound gracious and reinvent himself from a “hate figure into an avatar of modernity and progress”.
Acting swiftly on a complaint from its Kerala unit, Congress president Sonia Gandhi removed Tharoor as party spokesperson on Monday.
Complaints from Kerala
“Congress president Sonia Gandhi has accepted the recommendation of the All India Congress Committee disciplinary committee to remove Shashi Tharoor from the list of spokespersons of the AICC with immediate effect," said a press statement by party general secretary organisation Janardan Dwivedi. “The Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee had submitted a complaint in this regard to the disciplinary committee.”
While the Congress president’s decision was predictably welcomed by the party, a chastened Tharoor put out a statement saying that he accepted the party’s decision but would have welcomed an opportunity to respond to the charges against him.
"While I have not yet seen the KPCC complaint referred to and while I would have welcomed an opportunity to respond to it and draw the attention of the AICC leadership to the full range of my statements and writings on contemporary political issues, I am now treating this matter as closed and have no further comment to make," he said.
Furious party leaders in Kerala sent a report to the Central leadership in which they pointed that Tharoor’s adulatory statements about Modi had hurt Congress workers who had worked hard in the Lok Sabha elections for his second successive victory from the Thiruvananthapuram constituency in May's Lok Sabha elections.
Public humiliation
Although Sonia Gandhi is not known to take quick decisions, the alacrity with which she responded to the complaint from the Kerala unit was meant to be send out an unequivocal message to Tharoor and others that the party will not compromise on its opposition to the BJP in general and Modi in particular.
In fact, not only did the Congress act swiftly on the report, it also went out its way to publicise the fact that it had removed Tharoor from the panel of spokespersons. “The party could have quietly told Tharoor not to address the media,” a senior Congress leader told Scroll.in on condition of anonymity. In fact, he has not done so for nearly three months now. "But the party leadership obviously wanted it to be known that it had not taken kindly to Tharoor’s comments."
The overwhelming view in the party was that the decision on Tharoor was long overdue and should have come much earlier. “He was given a long rope,” remarked a Congress office-bearer. "Tharoor has made several such controversial statements in the past but has always been rewarded."
This Congress leader alleged that Tharoor was trying curry favour with the Modi government because he wanted to influence the investigations into his wife’s mysterious death in January. Tharoor has repeatedly denied this charge and describes himself as a “proud Congressman.”
Political outsider
A political outsider who joined the Congress in 2009 a couple of years after resigning his job as a career diplomat at United Nations, Tharoor has never been popular with his party colleagues. Many resented the fact that he was handpicked by the Congress leadership to contest the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat in 2009, without any grassroots support.
Congress leaders from Kerala explained that the earlier controversies about Tharoor’s wife’s mysterious death and the allegations that he had misused his political office to obtain shared in the Indian Premier League Kochi cricket franchise paled in comparison to his persistent remarks praising Modi. “This shows he does not understand the complexities of politics,” said a senior party leader. The Congress is nervous about the BJP’s efforts to make inroads in Kerala and it believes Tharoor’s comments will undermine its battle against the saffron party.
Tharoor, Congress leaders said, should understand the enormity of the situation as he faced a tough contest from BJP’s O. Rajagopal in the last Lok Sabha election. “Tharoor managed to scrape through but only after the Communists pitched in to ensure his victory,”said a Congress leader from Kerala.